Folding shade-chair.



No. 793,673. P ATENTED JULY 4, 1905. F. T. B. MANN. FOLDING SHADE CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED MAB-17,1904.

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WITNESSES: INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES Patented July 4, 1905.

FREDERICK T. B. MANN, OF SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA.

FOLDING SHADE-CHAIR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 793,6? 3, dated July 4, 1905.

Application filed March 17, 1904. Serial No. 198,678.

To all whom it inn/y concern: 7

Be it known that I, FREDERICK T. B. MANN, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at San Diego, in the county of San Diego and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Folding Shade-Chairs, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a folding shadechair, and particularly to the class described in the United States patent granted to me April 14, 1903, No. 725,348, the object of my invention being to provide a chair of light weight which can be folded into small compass and which shall be provided with a shade, being thus convenient for use at the seaside, on grasslawns, for picnic parties, artists, writers, campers, or porches and verandas, for sitting-rooms, steam-decks, &c. It is so constructed that it can be taken to pieces in a few minutes and reduced to a small compass, so that it may be carried in a small bag in one hand or on a bicycle or packed away in a trunk when traveling to the seaside or elsewhere. When the distance is short, the chair need not be taken to pieces, but maybe carried about folded up like an ordinary campchair, the sunshade hanging loosely down behind.

My invention therefore resides in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts for the above ends hereinafter fully specified, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the chair ready for use. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the chair, the canvas back and sunshade being broken away to show the construction. Fig. 3 is a back elevation of the chair, the front and back webbing being broken away, so as to show the construction. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the chair folded up and standing against a wall, Fig. 5 being a side elevation of the same, showing the front and back canvas webbings hanging down loosely at the back. Fig. 6 is a detail vertical section of the bars 34 41 38, showing how they are respectively secured to the shoes 13 and the lower bars 37. Fig. 7 is a front elevation of a bag with all the different parts of the chair snugly packed away ready for transportation, Fig. 8 being a side view of the same, both of the above figures being drawn to the same scale as Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for purposes of comparison. Fig. 9 is a detail showing the manner in which the top brace 2 is secured to the upper side bars 1. Fig. 10 is a detail showing the manner of securing together the three bars, 19, 7, and 1.

Referring to the drawings, 1 represents the two upper side bars of the chair, which are firmly held together by the top brace or crossbar 2, said top brace having at each end a screw 3 passing through an aperture 4 in the side bar and clamped to said bar by means of an internally-threaded knob 5.

The lower ends of the upper side bars 1 pass through eyes 6, attached to the lower side bars 7 and are secured to the upper ends of said lower side bars by means of screws 8, which are passed through apertures 9 in the lower bars and are screwed into screw-threaded apertures 10 in the upper bars 1. At the lower ends of the lower side bars are attached by rivets 11 the seat-bars 12, which are provided with shoes 13 to rest upon the base attachment or on the ground, as desired. The front ends of said seat-bars 12 are held'together by means of the seat-brace 14, secured to said seat-bars 12 in like manner as the top brace 2 to the side bars 1.

To the top brace 2 and scat-brace 14 is attached the back 15, of canvas or duck webbing, said back being formed with end loops 16, which receive the top and seat braces. Said back thus forms a seat and a support for the back of the occupant.

To the seat-bars 12 are pivotally attached, as shown at 17, the lower tie-sections 18, which at their upper ends are pivoted to the upper tie-section 19. The latter have at their upper ends slots 20, through which pass the screws 8, before mentioned, so that the upper ends of the tie-sections pass between the heads 21 of said screws and the sides of the lower side bars 7. By means of said slots the angular elevation of the side bars is adjusted to suit the occupant.

The sunshade 22 is supported upon light flexible steel bands 23, of which two are at the sides of the sunshade and one in the middle, contained in longitudinal loops 2 1, formed in the sunshade. In the end loops 25 formed therein are contained the light rods 26 27, the rear rod 26 being passed through screw-eyes 28, screwed into the rear edges of the upper side bars, while to the ends of the rod 27 are attached cords 29. By drawing down said cords and attaching the lower ends thereof to the heads 21 of the screws 8 the front side of the shade is drawn down, the steel bands 23 bending and giving a curved shape to the shade, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, bringing the front of the shade down sufliciently to protect the occupant from the glare of the sun. A heavy deep fringe also protects the sitter from the side lights. The sunshade is continued in'one piece, as shown at 22, and

passes round the bar 30 at the extreme rear ends of the shoes 13 and fastens by cords onto the wood en knobs 5, thus protecting the back of the occupant from the rays of the sun and from the wind, which the webbing 15 was found insufliciently to guard against.

A flat bar 31, which supports the arms of the chair, (see tie-sections 18 19,) is riveted to the latter at 32 and at the lower reduced end passes into slots 33 on the outside of the shoes 13, enabling the said bar to be adjusted to suit the required angle of the side bars 1 7.

To the shoes of the chair 13 are attached square vertical brace-bars 34 at the rear end, having threaded screws at the upper ends, which pass through apertures in the flat bar 30 and are firmly secured by internallythreaded hard wood knobs 35 to the said shoes 13. The lower ends of the said bars have screws which pass through lower flat tie-bars 36 and screw into internally-threaded apertures in the lower shoe-bars 37, which rest on the ground. Similarly square vertical front bars 38, having screws at the upper ends, pass through apertures in the shoes 13 and are secured thereto by internally-threaded hardwood knobs 39 at the upper ends, having similar screws at the lower extremities, which pass through apertures in the tie-bars 10 and screw into internally-threaded apertures in the lower bars 37. Middle bars 41, having unthreaded round ends, passinto apertures in the bars 13 and 37, thus forming supports for the centers of shoes 13.

To fold up the chair, the cords of the sunshade secured to the wooden knobs 21 and 39 at the upper and lower ends, respectively, are released, and the sunshade falls over the back, the screws 8 are partly unscrewed, the support-bars 31 are folded up against the tiesection 19, which is pushed down ward, the seat-braces, together with the base attachment, are moved up to the side bars, the screws tightened up again, and the loops at the ends of the cords both at the upper and lower ends of the sunshade are looped over the screw-knobs 5, so as not to drag along the ground. The chair can then be comfortably carried under one arm by holding the cross-brace 1 1 in one hand, the sunshade being turned in ward against the hip.

If a rocking-chair is desired, it is a simple matter to substitute curved bars (see 12, Fig. 1) for the flat bars 37 and to shorten bars 3 1 38; but the flat bars will be most serviceable, as they will pack up far better.

For the convenience of campers especially two half-inch hardwood boards hinged together longitudinally (see 43, Figs. 4, 5) can readily be placed over the then horizontal tiebars 38, thus forming a table which can be used either as a writing or reading table, or, covered with some waterproof material which can be continued over the back of the chair, the table can be turned into a very useful washhand stand.

I claim 1. In a folding chair, the combination of a collapsible frame comprising side and seat bars, a flexible back suitably supported at the top and bottom upon said frame, and a flexible back shade also suitably supported upon said frame, said frame comprising means for spacing the shade from the back, substantially as described.

2. In a folding chair, the combination of side bars, seat-bars attached to the lower ends of the side bars, and extending behind said side bars, a top brace between the side bars, aflexible back suitably supported at the top and bottom upon the frame thus formed, and a flexible back shade suitably supported at the top and in its lower portion spaced from said back by said extensions, substantially as described.

3. In a folding chair, the combination of upper and lower separable side bars, tie-piece sections pivoted together, seat-bars, and supports pivoted to the section-pivots, and adjustably supported at their lower ends on the seat-bars, substantially as described.

4:. The combination with the collapsible side bars, and the seat-bars, of a base comprising flat bars to rest upon the ground, posts screwed into holes in said flat bars, their upper reduced ends being inserted in holes, in the seat-bars, and screws securing said scat-bars to said posts, substantially as described.

5. The combination with the collapsible side bars, and the seat-bars, of a base comprising flat bars to rest upon the ground, posts screwed into holes in said flat bars, their upper reduced ends being inserted in holes in the seat-bars, screws securing said seat-bars to said posts, and cross-bars connecting said posts at the bottom, substantially as described.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK T. B. MANN.

Witnesses:

SAM F. SMITH, FLORA A. Fnos'r. 

